POP REVIEW

POP REVIEW; Bringing Diversity to a Tribute to Aretha Franklin

By NEIL STRAUSS

Published: April 13, 2001

When several hundred award shows and television music specials are chasing the same two dozen stars, one has to admire VH1 for the programming of its fourth ''VH1 Divas Live'' special, a tribute to Aretha Franklin, which was broadcast live on Tuesday night from Radio City Music Hall.

Here the jazz trumpeter Clark Terry received as much stage time as members of the Backstreet Boys, and gospel singers, like the surviving members of the phenomenal Clara Ward Singers and Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr. of the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church Ministries, were treated as if they were pop stars. And without the time constraints put on musicians by award shows (where songs often have to be truncated to two or three minutes), ''VH1 Divas'' allowed its musicians to reach spontaneous, improvisatory highs, as in the encore, when Ms. Franklin and Stevie Wonder began trading phrases about how much they loved each other.

Although the night was supposed to be filled with one-of-a-kind duets, few singers had the guts to trade vocal chops with Ms. Franklin on national television. Even the audience was intimidated: when Ms. Franklin reprised her performance of the Puccini aria ''Nessun Dorma,'' which brought down the house at the 1998 Grammy Awards, she urged the crowd to sing along and was met with complete silence. What is wonderful about Ms. Franklin is that when she sustains a note indefinitely, embarks on long and winding melismas or pushes a run of notes far into the upper register -- feats that would tax most singers' capabilities -- it all comes naturally to her voice.

Besides Ms. Franklin, the performers included Jill Scott (a usually understated singer who let loose vocally to wonderful effect); a fraction of the Backstreet Boys (who sang background in ''Chain of Fools,'' appropriately); Nelly Furtado (clearly out of her league); Kid Rock (the life of any televised party); a jazz ensemble that included James Carter, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes and Russell Malone (whose name Ms. Franklin kept forgetting); Mary J. Blige (who nailed the song ''Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'' until Ms. Franklin showed her up); and Marc Anthony and Celia Cruz, who sang ''Quimbara'' together.

The downside to such innovative but minimally rehearsed and choreographed programming is that ''VH1 Divas Live'' made soporific viewing at times: a straightforward Aretha Franklin concert would have been more exhilarating. Fortunately, when the taping ended, Ms. Franklin decided to remain onstage and perform a medley of the Clara Ward Singers' gospel classics that had influenced her. But as she performed with Mr. Wonder and others, half the house emptied and the medley, it seemed, was cut short in disappointment.

The show itself was a benefit for VH1's Save the Music Foundation, a group dedicated to instituting music programs in schools, and it seemed as if, for some audience members, the program was coming far too late.

Photo: Aretha Franklin and Kid Rock during the live broadcast of ''VH1 Divas Live'' from Radio City Music Hall. (Vincent Laforet/The New York Times)